Page 162 of Shadowblood Souls: The Complete Series

Thirty-One

Riva

T he wind flicks grit in our faces. A tang of smoke and iron prickles my nose, leaving me with the impression that I’ve bitten my tongue.

I peer down the low slope through our cover of gaunt shrubs, studying the village of clay-brick buildings. In the thin dawn light, the shadows stretch long.

My pulse thumps at a frenetic rhythm.

The insurgents gave the government of whatever country or state we’ve arrived in a deadline of twelve hours to meet their demands before they started a full-scale slaughter of the inhabitants.

It took Clancy eleven hours to finalize his plans, transport us out here, and have Andreas conduct an initial survey of the situation while invisible.

We’ve got only one more to save the people huddled and hunched with fear in the broad courtyard at the edge of the village.

As many of them as we can still save. The terrorists have already murdered a few—whether because those civilians resisted or simply to make a point about how serious they are, I don’t know.

The bodies of two men and a woman lie sprawled at the outskirts of the courtyard, dark stains marking the packed dirt beneath their corpses.

I swallow thickly, which rather than clearing the uncomfortable flavor from my mouth only intensifies it.

I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be carrying out Clancy’s mission for him or earning him money and acclaim.

But there’ve got to be at least a hundred innocent people down there in their tight huddle, many of them kids or elders, without much hope of defending themselves. I also don’t want all of them to die if I can help it.

That’s the worst part of our new circumstances, isn’t it? If Clancy honestly wanted to help people out of the goodness of his heart, including us shadowbloods, I might have been okay continuing the life he set up for us.

If I could really be a superhero, sweeping in to save the day with powers that would suddenly seem more awe-inspiring than monstrous, would I turn down the opportunity so I could claim my own freedom instead?

I don’t think I would. Not if it was a real choice with its own kind of freedom woven in.

And Clancy knows that. It’s why he made his initial pitch to us the way he did, and why I didn’t resist from the start.

He manipulated our emotions as deftly as Griffin can, in his own way. Even now, he’s arranging the scales so that any attempt we make to have lives of our own will result in someone else’s death.

I am not a monster. Even though I’ll never trust Clancy to put what’s right over his own self-interests, even though I have no intention of returning to the island after today if I can help it, I’m still going to do all I can to ensure every captive below survives the day.

What happens after is on Clancy’s conscience, not mine. He set the stage; we’re just working with the scripts he gave us.

I’ve noted fourteen of the insurgents in their positions around the village, mostly where Andreas reported seeing them.

Nine are stationed in a loose circle around the cluster of hostages, strolling a little this way and that, rifles held at the ready.

Five others roam more widely around the village, keeping watch for new arrivals.

I don’t need Griffin’s sensitivity to read the wariness in their postures. They’re perfectly aware that the officials they’re bargaining with would rather kill them than give in to their demands.

They just aren’t prepared for the resources those officials were able to bring to bear this time.

They aren’t remotely ready to deal with us.

“I can see all eight of the men Andreas said were in the taller buildings around the courtyard,” Zian says from beside me, where he’s hunkered down behind the scrubs too.

“A couple of them are in different rooms from what he reported, but that’s all.

If there’s anyone else farther into the village, they’re too far away for me to make out. ”

Jacob lets out a rough sound by my other shoulder. “Drey searched the whole village. He’d have noticed if there were more. I’d only be worried if you couldn’t find everyone he saw.”

He lifts his head to eye the terrain down the slope leading toward the nearest buildings and the courtyard. “We should start with the pricks in the buildings. I can take them out at a distance as long as I know where they are—and without the others realizing anything’s wrong.”

I smile grimly. “The more of them we can eliminate before they go on the defensive, the better.”

My scream is going to be the ultimate key to our victory, but as soon as that shriek careens from my lungs, we might as well have bellowed out a war cry.

And I’m not sure if I can target the figures I can’t even see while keeping my hunger for pain under tight enough control that I won’t catch any of the civilians in its net.

A small herd of sheep stirs in a pen just beyond the courtyard. One of them pushes at the weathered boards of the fence with an emphatic bleat loud enough to reach our ears.

The nearest insurgent spins and squeezes his trigger.

The blare of the shot reverberates through the air. As I flinch, the sheep thuds over on its side.

Behind me, Griffin draws in a shaky breath. Whiffs of nervous pheromones tickle my nose from his direction.

He’s never been right in a battle like this before. Never had to see the violence firsthand.

He speaks steadily enough, though. “I’ll keep the attackers as calm as possible. If you think a different emotional effect would help more, just say the word.”

Jacob looks over at Griffin and nods. There’s still a bit of tension in his stance when he interacts with his brother, but even when we were speaking apart from Griffin, he hasn’t expressed the slightest doubt about his twin’s loyalties now.

With the understanding they reforged that day in the jungle, he probably recognized Griffin’s gambit with Celine more clearly than any of us.

We’re back to how we were—or as close as we can get to the old days while there’s damage not fully healed and Andreas and Dominic are back in Clancy’s mobile military base, torture instruments poised to make them pay for any missteps on our end. We’re all here as the family we were meant to be.

More than just the six of us.

I glance down the opposite side of the low hill to where the four younger shadowbloods Clancy sent along with us are crouched. He picked out the few he thought would be the most useful for the mission.

Lindsay can use her earthen talents to jolt the ground beneath our enemies’ feet, setting them off balance.

The older teen who’s joined us, a guy named Sully, can conjure distracting illusions. I have the feeling the five of us Firsts encountered his ability before, during our time out in the wider world, attempting to avoid re-capture.

George can hop not just over short distances but through walls, in case Zian notices something we need to grab quickly within one of the buildings.

And if worse comes to worst, Tegan can hit any attacker nearby with the toxic smoke she can expel from her lungs.

But having them with us means more people we need to watch out for, more people to protect. I can’t help suspecting that Clancy included them at least as much to ensure we’d take every care to pull off this mission well as because he thought they’d contribute with their powers.

He’s keeping track of us through the monitoring bands around our ankles that we know from past experience are picking up our voices too. We have to be careful about what we say.

I catch the gazes of the three guys around me. “We’re going to save everyone today.”

Griffin dips his head. Determination hardens his features so that just for a moment, he looks even more like Jake’s mirror image. “ Everyone. ”

His swift gesture encompasses the four of us and the younger shadowbloods behind us.

One corner of Jacob’s mouth curls up in a harsh smile. “And take all of the villains down.”

Zian bares his teeth. “Like they deserve.”

We’re all in agreement that after we destroy the terrorists, we’re turning our abilities on the guardians who’ve terrorized us . Unfortunately, we won’t be able to figure out exactly how to do that until we see what we’ve got to work with after this part of the mission is over.

I wet my lips, my pulse picking up to an even faster tempo.

“Okay. So we split up now? Jake, you could go with Zian to pick off the men in the buildings—and bring George with you in case you need him to hop inside. I’ll stay farther back with Griffin, Lindsay, and Sully where we can keep an eye on the bigger picture. ”

I hesitate at the thought of Tegan. Her talent won’t do any good unless she’s close to her targets… but she’s only twelve.

I don’t care how useful her power could be in a pinch. Clancy is sick for sending any of the youngest shadowbloods out here, but especially her, when she only could be useful if she’s right within reach of a murderous attacker.

“She’ll come with us,” Jacob says firmly. “Zee and I can make sure nothing happens to her.”

Somehow it’s a relief to have one decision taken out of my hands.

We scuttle down to the younger shadowbloods and convey the plan in murmurs. Sully’s expression firms with the resolve of someone who’s been in the line of fire before, but the younger kids look understandably jittery.

“Stick close to us, and don’t do anything unless Griffin or I say so,” I murmur. “If everything goes the way we’re hoping, you might not need to get involved at all.”

Lindsay clenches her hands. “I want to help if I can.” But she doesn’t look any less terrified.

I squeeze her shoulder. “I know. Come on—we don’t have much time left.”

We creep back to the crest of the hill, diverging into our two groups when we reach the top. My heart stutters as I watch Jacob and Zian pull away from us, even though I can sense exactly where Jacob is whether I can see him or not.